The CEO’ s second choice novel Chapter 18

　　Elena

　　I take off my heels as soon as I enter the villa and breathe a sigh of relief. My heart still felt heavy, but I could not allow it to hold me down any longer. As much as I hated it, I was essentially a married woman now and needed to act as such even if my husband did not.

　　“Ah, Mrs Dumont, you are home. Are you hungry?” Ilse asks me as I enter the kitchen area, but I shake my head. “I just came from brunch with a few friends, Ilse. I’ll be fine for a while. Do we have headache tablets? I am not feeling too well and would like to go have a lay down for a little while.” I said and I could see the worried frown that creased her brows.

　　I absolutely adored Ilse, she was like a mother to me in a strange home. She showed me the love and affection I had never received from my own mother. The warmth that matched the villa.

　　“Oh, dearie. I will get you something that’s non-drowsy. Go to your room and I will have it brought right up to you.” She says gently and offers me a warm smile which I had to return. I wrap my arms around her, “Thank you, Ilse.” I say, then saunter up to my bedroom.

　　Living with Sebastian had not been as bad as I originally thought it would be. He didn’t bother me and I stayed out of his way. But living past one another was taking its toll on me… I have to admit that I craved affection and conversation. From having Eliana and Nicholas around all day, to suddenly having no one. Ilse was kind and spoke to me, but it wasn’t the same. I felt isolated here. This villa was like a mansion when you had no one to talk to.

　　There was a knock on my door and I told whoever it was to enter; it was one of the helpers in the villa with a sealed paracetamol tablet and some orange juice. I thank her and she leaves with a fake smile plastered on her face. This made me chuckle. She was the girl that had a huge crush on Sebastian and tried to be nice to me, but her facial expressions gave her away.

　　Swallowing the pill, I lay down on my heavenly bed. This thing always made me drift off into the most peaceful sleep, although this time I think the reason for my drowsiness was this pill. I forgot to mention to Ilse that just a little bit of ‘non-drowsy’ paracetamol made me sleepy. I had such a low tolerance for everything, that even a glass of champagne made me tipsy.

　　Before I knew it, I had drifted off to sleep,

　　***

　　My sleep was plagued by Nicholas’ kind face, our memories spent together all spilling into one canvas.

　　“Elena…” I hear him call my name, but the voice did not match his kind face. The Nicholas I knew had a soothing and sweet voice, whereas this Nicholas’ voice was husky and dripped sex appeal.

　　“Elena…” I hear it again and force my eyes open this time, only to see the face of Sebastian staring down at me with a worried frown on his face. “Elena, are you alright?” He asks me and I try to sit up, but he pushes me back onto the bed.

　　“Hey,...” was all I got out before flopping back down on the bed. I was really struggling to keep my eyes open. “What did you give her?!” I heard Sebastian ask someone and realized that we were not alone. “It was only a non-drowsy paracetamol tablet, sir!” Ilse replies with a concerned voice.

　　“Are you sure about that? She seems to be quite intoxicated.” Sebastian says as he touches my forehead, causing me to eventually open my eyes.

　　“I have a low tolerance for medication, Sebastian. I forgot to inform Ilse of this. I only needed something to take the migraine away.” I say, slowly sitting up and taking in the scene in my bedroom.

　　Ilse was standing at the foot of my bed and Sebastian was sitting next to me; he looked absolutely worried. I frown at his expression, “I am fine, I promise. Why do you all look so anxious?”

　　Sebastian moves closer to me, “Elena, it is 8 pm, you have been asleep for over 6 hours since you got home. I started to get worried when you did not come down for our dinner arrangement but did not want to barge into your room again. So I asked Ilse to enter, and we found you completely passed out and unresponsive.”

　　This bit of news is what wakes me up, but I sit up a bit too quickly and fall forward into Sebastian’s arms. “Easy there,” he says as he slowly eases me back down onto the bed but I slowly shake my head, “No, I need to get some air,” I say and try to get up again but I feel completely helpless. He nods, then picks me up and carries me downstairs. “Sebastian!” I cry out, finally realizing what he was doing, but feeling too weak to fight him.

　　“I am taking you to the conservatory,”

　　The conservatory was on the other side of the villa, “You can put me down, Sebastian, I am not an invalid!” I cried out, but he refused to and was now carrying me through the villa.

　　“Sebastian!”

　　“Elena, for the love of God, will you let me do this?! There is no way you would be able to walk without passing out. Just let me do this for you.” He says while looking straight ahead. All I could do is sigh in exasperation and accept defeat. “Fine,” I mutter and start pouting.

　　I caught the smile on his face when I said this and tried to hide my own smile. “You are such a brat, Lady Wiltshire.” He says, and for some reason when he calls me that, I am taken back to a masked ball my family had hosted a few years ago. My mother forced me to take Eliana’s place because she had an allergic reaction and hit out in red blotches. I thought the whole masked ball idea was outdated and silly, but I still did it, anyway.

　　There was a guy I had met at the ball, someone who I buried deep in my memories. We had this instant connection and spent the entire afternoon together. He promised to see me the following weekend but never pitched. I never got his name.

　　I clear my throat as we arrive outside the conservatory and Sebastian steps inside. This was my favourite place to sit on certain evenings when I couldn’t sleep. During the day it doubled as a sunroom because of the glass ceiling, but I prefer coming here at night to watch the stars. The fragrance that the flowers gave off at night made me feel as if I was in the middle of a quaint cottage that housed a beautiful garden.

　　Sebastian finally puts me down on the couch and I curl my legs underneath my body when he takes a seat next to me.

　　Then I finally had a good look at him. He was still dressed in his evening attire, his Tom Ford suit and tie. He still had his beard in a light stubble trimmed to perfection, his thick raven hair slicked back on top and cut on the sides. Yet his hazel eyes were regarding me with concern.

　　In short, my husband looked quite dashing this evening.

　　I blush as I think this, then look away from him. He still looked tired, but I had a feeling he tried to look good for me this evening. “You gave us quite a scare this evening,” He suddenly speaks up, causing me to look at him. I give him a thin smile, “I’m sorry about that. My headaches have been coming back harder than usual, I just needed something to ease the pain a bit.” I say, finally admitting that I had a weakness. I have always struggled with headaches but never admitted it to anyone before.

　　This causes Sebastian to frown, “We will need to have that looked at, Elena. It could be serious.” He says, his brow furrowing even more. I shake my head and give him a sad smile.

　　“Then I guess you would finally be rid of your podgy wife.”

　　I don’t know what caused me to say that, but I was feeling pretty sorry for myself at that moment. Especially after today’s events. Sebastian lets out a sigh then sits forward, placing his elbows on his knees and holding his hands in front of his mouth as if he was saying a prayer.

　　“Elena, I meant nothing by that. I was only teasing you, and it was immature of me to do so. Please do not refer to yourself as ‘podgy’ again, because you are not. You have the most perfect body I have ever laid my eyes on.” He says and I immediately wish the ground would swallow me up. I had hoped he wouldn’t bring up seeing me naked.

　　My face was ablaze with shame, then I heard him chuckle, “Oh, come on, I am sure Nicholas would have told you the same thing.” He says and I feel as if he just threw iced water over my body. Of course, he would think Nicholas and I would have had sex by now, but I wasn’t Eliana.

　　I shake my head, “No, he hasn’t…” I said, feeling too embarrassed to complete the sentence.

　　He scoffs at this, “What? He never complimented your naked body? The boy must surely be blind.” he says then sits back, regarding me with amusement.

　　“No, Sebastian, that’s not what I meant. Nicholas has never seen my naked body as you have.” I start, lowering my head, “I was saving myself for him in every way possible.”

　　It seems silly now to have done that knowing he only cared about having sex with me before moving onto his duty of marrying Anabelle Thompson. I was so blinded by him, and so dumb.

　　“Today I found out that he is engaged to another heiress and that I was his side fling all along. He only cared about ‘popping my cherry’ as he called it and played me like a fiddle. I was none the wiser and was going to give him the most precious thing a wife could offer her husband.” I say and surprise myself by not bursting into tears.

　　Sebastian leans over me and cups my cheek in his palm, pulling my head up to face him. “Then Nicholas is a fool to not see the value in the gem he held.”

　　My breath caught in my throat and my heart was beating so fast in my chest with the way he was looking at me. He ran his thumb gently over my bottom lip and slowly moved his face closer to mine, but then chuckled and stopped himself. “I apologize, I almost forgot about my promise to you this afternoon.” He says then lets go of my chin.

　　I clear my throat, “I’m sorry for spoiling our first date,” I tell him, not meeting his eye.

　　“You ruined nothing, Elena. I prefer being in this conservatory with you to any high-end restaurant.” He says, causing me to smile and my heart felt lighter. We spent the rest of the evening in silence, watching the stars.

　　“Don’t worry, I promised myself that I will not force any more kisses onto you, not until you ask me for it.”

　　That is what Sebastian had said earlier today, but the thing that was hanging on my mind was that when he was running his thumb over my bottom lip, I wanted him to ravage me.